DUBAI, U.A.E.—The Grand Hyatt Dubai has converted its main water heating system from diesel oil-fired to solar powered in a bid to reduce climate change and running costs. With the UAE’s carbon footprint spiraling, causing the country to be one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita in the world, the Grand Hyatt Dubai’s new solar panel heating system will reduce its own emissions dramatically.

“This is the first commercial installation of its kind in the U.A.E., and probably the largest in the whole of Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” says Phil Barnett, Grand Hyatt Dubai’s director of engineering.

The solar panels are installed on the roof of the Grand Cineplex, with each solar panel producing up to a kilowatt of energy each per hour. The plant as a whole will produce 800 to 1,000 kilowatts of energy per hour.

Moderate ROI Time Frame

“The spiraling cost of diesel—which has doubled in price in two years—was another factor in our decision to install the plant,” Barnett says. “We expect the plant to pay for itself in just three years.”

Hyatt and Hyatt International have taken on a worldwide initiative to install environmentally friendly equipment.

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“The success of this initiative will become proof that Hyatt throughout the world takes climate change seriously and will be taking action to protect the environment and ensure healthy clean air and energy waste reduction,” Barnett says. “We have already dropped the water consumption of Grand Hyatt Dubai by 120,000 gallons a day. Sewage effluent from the hotel goes through a purification system, and we then use it as the water for our cooling towers.

“We used to put drinking water in our cooling towers at a cost of 35 fils per gallon,” Barnett adds. “The cost of using treated sewage effluent for the purpose has reduced the cost to 10 fils per gallon, but more importantly has saved more than 800,000 gallons of drinking water a week.”